It took exactly one second before everyone started freaking out. Christopher looked at Zellie like he wanted to do her bodily harm. Melody and Avery inched over in front of her.
“Show me the visions now!” Ben demanded.
“This is what you’ve been keeping from us?” their mom asked.
“You two have a lot of explaining to do,” their dad said.
Wyatt hollered. Frank’s face turned a deep shade of super-pissed-off red. Connor and Marcus stood back from everyone, looking utterly confused and a little bit scared.
Aunt Hazel held her hands in the air, silencing the group. “We should not be discussing this in the middle of the hospital parking lot.” She lowered her hands and clasped them together at her waist. “I would like to suggest that everyone get their asses in the shuttle bus. Lickety split.”
They moved en masse to the shuttle bus, grumbling at Zellie and commiserating with each other the whole way.
“Wy and I can wait out here,” Mrs. Adams said, when her mom tried dragging him and his stroller onto the bus.
“Thanks, Beck.” She handed Wyatt over and climbed up the stairs.
Aunt Hazel stood at the front of the bus waiting for everyone to take a seat. Zellie and Melody sat up front on the right with Avery behind them. Their parents and Mr. Adams took up the third row, followed by Christopher and Frank in the fourth and Ben, Connor and Marcus in the fifth. Then she shut the door. “That’s better.”
Zellie stood up, so Melody stood up. “This is a waste of time.”
“Hazel Grace Wells, you sit down in that seat until I’m finished talking.”
They both sat.
“Now, I think I’m safe in saying that not a single person here is going to let you two go after Mildred alone.”
Zellie looked around the bus impatiently. “Fine. Can you drive while we talk? We don’t have much time.”
Bold move, Zel.
Aunt Hazel inhaled deeply. “Sure.” She held out her hand. “Christopher, the keys.”
Christopher stood, taking the keys from his pocket. “I can dri-”
“The keys!” Aunt Hazel jabbed her hand at him. He came forward, gingerly placed them in her palm and sat back down.
She slid behind the steering wheel and started up the bus. “Where am I going?’
Zellie leaned over the front of the seat. “Summer Lake Hot Springs. Do you know it?”
Aunt Hazel nodded. “Roger and I have been there a couple of times.”
Mrs. Adams banged on the door, giving her Dad a questioning look.
He held up his phone. Mrs. Adams gave him the ok sign and backed away from the bus.
“Are you sure about our destination, Zellie?” Frank asked. “Sometimes the visions are confusing.”
Zellie sighed. “I’m glad you guys have so much faith in me.” She turned in her seat, sat on her knees and stuck her thumb up. “Vision number one: foothills, clear blue sky, desert, boulders, brush, marshland, water, a sign I couldn’t read and a teepee.” Her index finger joined her thumb. “Vision number two: a Highway 31 scenic byway sign and a river with another sign next to it that said Chewaucan River.” Up went her middle finger. “Vision number three: This time I could read the sign from the first vision. It said, ‘Summer Lake Hot Springs.’ Then I saw a group of three cabins next to said hot springs and Mildred walked out the door of one and into another.”
Frank looked out the window and muttered, “Sounds good.”
Aunt Hazel pulled out of the hospital parking lot.
“Now, are you going to tell us what the hell has been going on?” Ben asked, only a touch of anger still left in his voice.
Zellie gave him a sympathetic look. “Yes.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Everyone sat quietly, staring out the windows. We were almost there.
After I’d spilled about the events of the past two days, Ben had instantly forgiven me, saying that he didn’t think he’d have done anything differently.
Christopher was another story. He’d launched into a twenty minute rant covering such subjects as, Melody is a Piss Poor Lookout, Zellie is a Vision-Grubbing Gloryhound Who Thinks She Can Do It All Herself, and my personal favorite, Why Didn’t You Let Christopher In On The Plan Since He Has the Mind Control Prowess to Obtain a Shuttle Bus?
I didn’t even blink an eye. Between Mom, Ben and him, I knew an abandonment issue rant when I heard one. And, it wasn’t like I could’ve gotten us a shuttle bus. The rest of the three hour drive had been filled with tense silence.
“We’re half an hour away,” Aunt Hazel announced. “It’s time to start talking strategy.”
“Yeah, Melody, what’s the big plan?” Christopher sneered.
Dad glowered at him. “Cool it, Chris.”
Melody and I looked at each other. I’d been dreading this question.
Avery reached his hand over the seat and I took it.
“There isn’t one,” I said.
“You mean we’re just going to wing it?” Ben asked.
Avery rubbed his thumb over the back of my hand. “Bad things happen when Retros don’t go with their guts.”
Guts, please don’t fail me now.
Aunt Hazel parked the bus on the shoulder of the highway before the turn-off to the hot springs. “I insist, at the very least, that we don’t just drive up to the door and park in front of the cabins.” She tsked at Melody. “No plan.”
“I should have given Wyatt a kiss good-bye,” Mom said, her voice shaky.
“You don’t have to do this,” I said. “You and Dad should stay on the bus.” I looked at Connor and Marcus. “You guys too.”
“And let my other two children go into danger without me?” Mom squared her shoulders. “Mildred killed my mother and has already tried to kill you. No way am I staying on the bus. She has to pay.”
“Thatta girl, Gracie,” Aunt Hazel said.
Dad stood. “You’re not going without me.”
“Us either,” Connor stood, pulling Marcus up. “If Mildred wants to kill us, she’ll have to do it in person.”
“Here we go.” Aunt Hazel opened the bus door and we all filed out.
It was ten in the morning, broad daylight. The land was barren, hard-packed desert. There were no trees. We didn’t really have anywhere to hide. The only thing between us and Mildred was the distance we had to travel along the gravel road.
As we got closer we instinctively got into formation. I was up front with Ben on my right and Christopher on my left. Melody, Frank, Aunt Hazel and Avery were behind us. Dad, Mom, Mr. Adams, Connor and Marcus brought up the rear.
Ben gave me a sideways glance. “I can feel Mildred’s powers building up in me. If things get really bad out there, I need you two to promise me your objective will be to protect. Leave the killing to me.”
“I promise,” Christopher and I whispered in unison.
The teepee came into view to the left of the road, with the sign reading Summer Lake Hot Springs just behind it. A little beyond that on the right were the hot springs. The cabins sat on the other side of the water. We followed the perimeter of the hot springs, the gravel road growing narrower, the land surrounding it on either side giving way to marsh. The tall plants around it provided some cover.
“Last chance to back out,” Christopher said. “After this bend, we’ll be in the open.”
No one spoke up. We moved forward.
My heart slammed in my chest. I looked over my shoulder at Avery.
“I love you, Zel.”
“I love you,” I answered back.
“Me too,” Melody said. “I love you, sis.”
“I love you, Benjamin,” Frank said getting choked up.
“Right back at ya, Uncle Frances.”
I love yous volleyed around the group. I opened my mouth to tell Christopher I loved him, since I didn’t want him to feel left out, but Marcus spoke up.
“Thank you for easing my mind, Christopher.”
He grinned.
We rounded the corner, the road spreading out into a gravel parking lot in front of three cabins.
I held my uninjured hand up to signal that everyone should stop. The front door of the cabin on the left opened and Mildred stepped out with her head down. I lowered my hand into Retroact stance as Ben and Christopher raised theirs.
Mildred looked up, staring blankly forward. The right side of her face was grey and drooping. My eyes trailed from her messed up face down the length of her body. Her right arm was slack, the fingers frozen in a clawed position. She took a step forward, but her right foot dragged.
“I thought you said she recuperated?” Ben asked. He dropped his hand.
Christopher and I followed his lead. This woman that we had built up in our minds as some diabolical entity looked like a stroke victim on the verge of death.
“That’s what Candace told Wes, that Mildred was recuperated and stronger than ever,” I explained.
“But Wes never saw her for himself?” Christopher questioned.
“No. Should we go…check her out?”
We advanced on her slowly, cautiously. She stood stock still, never raising her hand, never giving any indication that she was going to attack us. We stopped about three feet away from her.
“Mildred?” Ben asked.
Mildred shook her head “no” and then looked at Christopher. “I’m so sorry, baby.” She went back into the cabin.
“Wes?” Christopher asked after her.
The door on the third cabin flew open. We all turned to see an older woman with a no-nonsense salt and pepper pixie cut come charging through it, her left arm out in front of her.
“Candace!” Aunt Hazel shouted.
The woman twisted her hand. “You’re only half right.” Aunt Hazel fell to the ground clutching her head.
Arms up, Christopher, Ben and I took a step forward.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Candace said, approaching us. “One more move and they all die.” She nodded to our group. “Then I’ll let Mildred have her pick of bodies to inhabit. As you saw her old one is only good for sleeping in at this point. It gets a little crowded when both of us are in mine.”
We stopped in our tracks.
“That’s better.” Candace smiled and straightened out her hand, relieving the pressure on Aunt Hazel enough so that she could come out of the fetal position and sit back on her heels.
Ten older women emerged from the middle cabin.
“We cannot be defeated by the goddamned Chico’s army,” Christopher quipped.
Marcus, Avery and Connor collapsed on the ground, writhing in pain. All we could do was watch, our hearts breaking, and try not to incur any more of her wrath.
“It’s disrespect like that, Christopher, that has ruined The Society,” Candace said. The women went to stand beside her. “There was a time,” she continued, “when protocol was followed. When a woman discovered she had these unique gifts, if she was a Retroact, she left her home and her trigger behind and she and her Lookout joined up. If she was a seer,” Candace glared at Mom, “she knew her place. She married a nice man and set about having daughters in the hopes that they would become Retroacts.”
Candace rolled her neck, her demeanor changing. She was Mildred now. The pressure on the skulls of the triggers increased.
My gaze fell to Avery, wishing more than anything that I could take his place.
Dad, Mom and Melody dropped.
“Eyes up here, Zellie, or they all go down.”
Rage building deep inside me, I forced myself to put my focus back on her.
“When I had the vision about you three and Candace later discovered that your grandmother and mothers had gone behind my back, had not obeyed my direct order to have you killed, I knew it was the end of an era. My plans to make the American Society the most powerful supernatural organization on the planet were threatened.” She nodded to the cabin behind us. “It was hubris, perhaps, that made me think it would be easy to defeat you. But it taught me a valuable lesson, one that Candace and I have been working toward since the night she rescued me from the coat room. If you can’t beat them, use them.”
Mildred straightened her hand out completely, releasing her hold on the triggers and my family. She gestured to the women standing next to her. “These women are not members of The Society. They are everyday people with powerful jobs. Judges, CEOs, moguls. We even have a queen.”
She strode in front of them like a dictator and placed her hand on one woman’s frosted blonde updo. “Each of these extraordinary women is under my control, as are the spirits I put inside some of them early this morning.” Mildred tapped frosty hair on the head. “Rachel and Richard Loughlin. Under my complete control. By day they reside in Honorable Judge Camilla Gregory, by night they live in limbo.” She moved to the next woman. “Delores Robinson, Head of Archway Entertainment. Occupied by Laura Fontenot and Brandon Grand.”
Ben and Frank both gasped.
Mildred giggled with delight. “You get the picture.” She ticked off down the line. “Christopher’s mother Rita Spence and Declan Farrell.” Christopher grabbed my hand, squeezing it to keep his from trembling. “Regan Cho and Carlos Montez, Stephen Ang and Laird Burrows, Aaron Larter and Simon Dietz, Gabrielle and Jorge. Each body contains a Retroact, with their trigger as a booster. My minions have been very busy collecting all of these souls.”
“Can I-” I said.
Mildred twisted her hand and aimed it at Avery again. “Yes?”
I cleared my throat. “I just want to ask a question.”
“Fine.”
“Why the elaborate setup? Why all the rewinds? Couldn’t Candace have just told me where you were?”
Mildred laughed condescendingly. “That was the way Candace glimpsed it. Three of the four times she looked into the future she saw Marcus and Connor at The Lodge and all of you walking up the road together.” Her expression turned sour. “Such a touchy-feely group. Really, all that ‘I love you’ crap on the way here was just pathetic.” She clapped her hands together. “All right, now that the question and answer session is complete, back to business.”
My eyelids grew heavy. Impeccable timing as usual.
“Here’s what’s going to happen.” Mildred pointed to me, Ben, Avery, Connor and Marcus. “You, you, you, you and you are all going to die and settle down in one of these nice ladies.” She flicked her fingers at the rest of our group. “You all can go.” She made a pouty face at Christopher. “But what about me? I always get left out,” she said, mocking him. “Christopher, you’ll be helping me with recruits by managing the minions.”
I faced Avery, praying that he noticed I was looking especially drowsy.
“Bah!” he wailed, banging his fists on the ground, doing an awesome Wyatt impression. “Please! Take my Dad instead!”
I had the best boyfriend ever.
My eyes snapped shut.
An instant.
I opened my eyes.
Christopher squeezed my hand again. He’d seen it too.
“Tell her what’s what, Zel,” Ben said.
Mildred’s gaze flicked over to me as she applied more pressure to Avery’s head and crushed his skull, killing him. Oh, how she was gonna pay for that.
“Here’s,” I stared her down, “what’s going to happen.”
I ducked as Christopher and Ben’s hands shot out over my head toward the spirit-possessed women. They began pulling the trapped Retroacts and triggers from the women and putting them into our groups’ bodies. Into my dad, and Aunt Hazel and Frank. I sprang forward, running at Mildred. Reacting on instinct, I cracked her across the jaw with my cast. She needed to focus on me now. Her head snapped to the side from the force of the blow. She took a split second to recover and then swung her head back around. She narrowed her eyes at me.
It was on.
Mildred raised both of her hands and aimed all of her power at both sides of my head. I crumpled to the earth, feeling my skull tighten arou
nd my brain. Relishing the pain, knowing it was a means to an end. She thought she could defeat me, but I knew how this all would end.
That’s right, bitch. Kill me. Make me stronger.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the final spirit fly past. A boy that had to be Antoine. He would inhabit his trigger, give Marcus power. Then my vision went dark.
I rose out of my body and saw Avery’s spirit standing next to it.
“Hurry, we’ve got to inhabit Melody.” The instant the words left my mouth we were sucked into her by a flick of Ben’s wrist.
Before us, Mildred stood with her arms outstretched. She was calling her spirit minions to her, thousands of lost souls sailed through the air and poured into her. A faint blue glimmer of light came to the surface of her skin.
“Zellie?” My sister rattled her head. I could feel the fear churning in her gut.
“You can do this Melody. I saw you do this.”
Melody looked over at Dad and Mom, to Connor and Marcus. They were all filled with Retroact and trigger spirits.
And they were glowing.
Ben and Christopher marched toward Mildred, hands clasped and extended, rewinding her to them. She pushed back, as the spirits she had summoned began funneling their energy through her.
“Round everyone up, Mel,” I hollered, my voice bouncing around inside her. “We all have to be in contact.”
She turned to Connor and Marcus and pointed at Ben. “Hold onto him!”
Aunt Hazel and Frank caught on quickly; Frank took Mom by the hand and Aunt Hazel grabbed Dad.
“Now get in between the guys and Mildred,” I ordered.
My super brave and kick-ass awesome little sister didn’t even pause to wonder what kind of peril I was putting her in. She jumped in front of the guys. Mildred brought her hands closer together and directed them at Melody.
Ben and Christopher gripped my sister’s shoulders as she struggled to stay on her feet under the pressure Mildred was applying to her skull. I forced Melody’s arm out, making her a conduit for the combined power of twenty Retroacts and triggers. Their energy coursed through her body, strengthening my spirit and Avery’s. I let it build for an instant, until I felt it, until I knew that together we had all transcended any power that Mildred could overcome.
Zellie Wells Trilogy (Glimpse, Glimmer, Glow) Page 47